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IRONMAN 70.3 Mallorca Preview

The 2014 European IRONMAN 70.3 season commences this Saturday in Spain.

The fourth edition of Thomas Cook IRONMAN 70.3 Mallorca opens the European season series on Saturday. Almost 3,800 participants will start the race. The course offers not only a brilliant event location at the beach of Alcudia, it includes a demanding, technical bike through the Tramuntana Mountains.

In past years, victories have been earned during the run. Andreas Raelert took the inaugural race in 2011 before his brother Michael won in 2012. Last year’s event it was Spain's Eneko Llanos who put together one of the season’s best running performances. Llanos celebrated the victory on the strength of his 1:08:41 half-marathon to finish in front of Belgium's Bart Aernouts and Andreas Raelert (GER). Lisa Hütthaler (AUT) took the title in the women’s race after a strong fight during the run, Yvonne van Vlerken (NED) took silver ahead of Great Britain’s Lucy Gossage.

On Saturday the men’s race is packed with a long list of favorites: Llanos, Aernouts, Andreas Raelert, Jan Raphael (GER), Joerie Vansteelant (BEL), Ivan Rana (ESP) and a trio from Great Britain (Will Clarke, Daniel Halksworth and Mark Threlfall) are men to watch. In the water it will likely be Frenchman Benjamin Sanson who will lead the race. On the bike, IRONMAN veteran Bjorn Anderson (SWE) is likely to be a threat, too. The women’s field features Liz Blatchford (GBR), who should be a strong favorite next to defending champion Hütthaler. Tiina Boman (FIN), Sofie Goos (BEL), Maren Hufe (GER) and Tamsin Lewis (GBR) will also likely be in the mix for the podium.